Reptile: Place Called Home
by Reptile The Fallen
Summary: Set six months after Deception, Reptile finds redemption while defending a mysterious woman.
1. Chapter 1

The knife digs deeper into the pale flesh of his wrist, slowly the green blood that flows through him begins to seek freedom, another one of _those_ thoughts had snuck into his mind, but he will not allow himself to give into them. The pain grows stronger and stronger with each passing second and as it builds, he quickly realizes what he's always known, he will never be one of them, the defenders of the realms, the chosen ones, he has no destiny, he will never face that one great threat that promises to end everything if that one brave being doesn't stand up to it, and he doesn't care. His masters have all fallen, the promises that were never going to come to fruition are gone, his hope is gone but without that hope, the darkness that has clouded every thought and action since Shao Kahn stole him from his life has been lifted.

His thoughts drift to her, his one chance at happiness, the one who gave her life to release him from servitude, and to save their people, which is what he thought he'd been fighting for since before any of the Earthrealmers were born, since before Outworld had claimed Edenia as it's latest victim and Shao Kahn tore apart the life of his eventual savior. She was called Khameleon by her enemies and once upon a time, she was called Ri'va by her parents, she found him during Shao Kahn's attempted invasion of Earthrealm and told him the truth, she was the first person in his life to tell him the truth, he can still remember the taste of her flesh. He regrets what he did, after her majesty freed him, that was the first thing he felt, as the memories of the deaths that he's caused, the pain, the suffering, and everything that he did as a monster came flooding to the forefront of his mind. He can't lie to himself, he knows he is still a monster, but he's a better monster. Queen Sindel took pity on him as a monster, she was the first among any of his masters to feel anything for him besides contempt and with that single act, he became more devoted to her then he'd ever been devoted to his other masters, they were simply a way of having what was taken returned to him. Khameleon's magnificent smile comes back into his mind's eye, he stole that smile from the world. The dagger's blade slides out of his flesh, it's serrated edge catching and tearing, causing more pain then it ever did on the way in, he closes his eyes and mentally climbs inside his wound, inside his pain, each drop of blood takes him farther and farther away from his past.

The sun shines angrily through the small window of the room he wishes he hadn't gone to the trouble of renting, Zhang Zao isn't much for exports and it's residents just barely survived through their own agriculture so it was surprising to find an inn there, but the state of his room revealed what he had suspected, it was in total disarray, the bedding eaten away by various critters, large collections of dead bugs near the window, even the wooden frame of the bed seemed to have been affected by abuse, but he didn't care at the time, it was warm and it was as close to safe as he'd been in weeks, the small amount of koins that Queen Sindel had given him as he set off to make a new life for himself was quickly running out and he regrets renting it, but there's nothing he can do about it now. He slowly regains consciousness as the sun continues it's steady barrage on his eyes

His self-inflicted wounds weren't enough to kill him, of course, they had healed almost completely while he slept. He had started cutting himself as a way to ensure that he didn't follow familiar rabbits down more familiar holes, but recently, it's become a way of escaping when it becomes too much for him, it being life. It's amazing what a little possession will do to a person or in his case, a monster.


	2. Chapter 2

Her scream is loud and shapeless but with an unmistakable familiarity, he moves quickly, the small door to his room breaks apart as it smashes into the wall, his feet carry him as fast as they can, each second is precious and potentially fatal to the poor being that screamed in such a sorrowful way, the innkeeper glares angrily at his rampaging customer but doesn't move out from behind the large wooden desk, each step takes him closer to a fate he never wished for and a love he never dreamed of, as his foot leaves the last step of the entrance to the inn, the smell smacks him strongly and sweetly, it's her blood, it hits him that he's failed again but he still keeps on moving, various sizes of children play in the streets with adults attempting to sell any number of crops or items, but they are of no importance.

The smell grows stronger with each step, he refuses to slow down but he begins to take notice of his surroundings, the town is built oddly, it's essentially two lines one directly parallel of the other, each with a dozen or so cheaply and less then sturdily built businesses and homes. Still running, he passes building after building with the smell growing stronger and stronger with each step, finally he suspects that he's reached the source of the scream and the bloody smell, it's a large tavern, the top part of the building seems to lean forward in an attempt to devour anyone foolish enough to try to enter, he realizes that can't be the case and rushes past the swinging doors. Several large burly men stand in the middle of the bar in various states of undressed around a beaten, broken and naked form, the stools, chairs and tables all moved into a corner, each of the men turn to face their unexpected interruption.

"Wanna turn?" The obvious leader asks, his brown pants in a mess around his ankles and a sweat covered wife-beater clinging to his chest, likewise, what remains of his black hair clings sweatily to his head, he tips his head back slightly and begins to collect saliva, but he doesn't have a chance to unleash further humiliation on the broken being on the ground as before he can even realizing what's happened, his face begins to fall into his hands, the acid acts quickly and a single quickly delivered punch to the chest ensures that none of it falls onto his victim, the six other men stare as the acid further devours the face of their leader and finally begins to eat through the wooden floor. The smallest of the group, an overweight red haired man tells the others to run for it, the broken form on the ground releases a whimper which guarantees them each of them a violent death, they all scream, they all bleed, but most importantly, they all die.

After searching in vain for something large enough to wrap her in within the bar for several minutes, he gives up and grabs the clothing off the largest of the six, as he approaches her, his heart sinks, each part of her is covered in a bruise, a cut or something altogether worse, her pale skin seems to scream that she'd be rather of dead, her raven hair is tangled, dirty and bloody, the monsters that did this will never pay as much as they should, but who is he to judge? He's a monster himself, Gently, he grabs her by the shoulder and leans her forward, using his other hand he slips the shirt onto her, it's much too large, of course, her and three exact clones of her could fit in it without straining the material, but it covers her and it will help keep her warm, the pants prove more difficult as he struggles to find a way to do it that wouldn't seem like further crimes against her, finally, he finds a way and after once again surveying the death and destruction he's caused, he slides his hand under her head and his other hand under her knees and lifts, she's unbelievably light, he pulls her closer to him as he walks out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

The innkeeper isn't quite as welcoming the second time around, but he takes the money, doesn't even ask about the door. The room isn't any better the second time around but it isn't much worse either, although the lack of a door isn't going to help much if the town decides he's a threat, she stirs a bit after he places her on the bed, but she stays asleep or unconscious, whichever the case may be, for the first time since he heard her scream, his heart slows down a bit, and for the first time since he found her, he truly looks at her, beyond the bruises, beyond the swelling, beyond the cuts, beyond it all is perfection, she is perfection, yet he can't shake the feeling that he knows her, but he's never known perfection. She turns silently onto her side, he just sits there watching, waiting for the world to fall down or to be greeted by perfection.

As she sleeps silently, he begins to fear the day when he will fail her again, he always fails, she is perfection and he is flawed, he doesn't want to fail her, he could never fail her, failure is not an option, she is perfection and he is flawed but he will not fail her. Her eyes slide gently open, the sun's light tearing into them causes her to close them again.

"Who are you?" She asks, her voice soft, sweet, soothing and altogether too redemptive.

"I am called Reptile."

"Where are we?"

"A small city in Outworld called Zhang Zao."

"Why?"

"It's where you are."

"Why did you help me?"

"I didn't, I have a thing about balding people."

"Only one was balding."

"On the outside, who can say for sure about on the inside?"

"Good point." She laughed a bit before grabbing her stomach as if it was trying to escape.

"Thank you for killing the baldness, I could of been blinded."

"I always do my best to eliminate shiny things."

He can't understand why he speaks so freely with her, even among his most beloved of masters and hated of enemies, his words are few and far between, not to mention much more respectful and stilted. He reaches down and grabs his canteen of water from the small brown bag that he carries with him, unscrewing the cap and absent mindedly taking a small sip before handing it to her, only then realizing his mistake.

"Wait! I can't ask you to drink after me, hand it back and I'll go get fresh water from the well, it'll only be a moment." He pleads before watching in amazement as a small smile slips silently unto her bruised lips and she then weakly raises the canteen to her mouth and taking a swig that would impress Bo' Rai Cho.

"You have very low self-esteem considering your fighting abilities." She notes with a slight smirk.

"Do you know where you come from?" He asks out of curiosity.

"No, do you?"

"I'd guess Edenia from how quickly your wounds are healing."

"Most of the swelling went down while you slept, swelling that would of kept up in an Earthrealmer for several days."

"Cared for a lot of Earthrealmers have you?"

"No, just hurt them."


End file.
